Alpha-Dave

Hi folks, I've been wondering for a while why we change strings so often. I've almost convinced myself that it actually isn't necessary as with a decent EQ you should be able to feed some mids and treble back as the strings age, however nothing has that 'zing' of a new string. I have to wonder, with modern metallurgical technology is it possible to make a string that always 'zings', but no one has tried it because they'd reduce their market. Any thoughts? Cheers, David.

[quote name='BOD2' post='16817' date='Jun 13 2007, 12:44 PM']I don't know that it's "too good" - after all, oak often ends up in flooring and even palettes.[/quote] My exact point: it's cheap and readily available (so can be used in such applications), but isn't used in basses because of the other costs (tooling etc.). As you say, stability may be an issue. I asked the question 'can I have Ebony as a 1 piece neck' on talkbass' Luthier's Corner (which I dare say is a way better resource than here for such questions) and the answer was the stability is a huge issue for Ebony so can't be used as a 1 piece neck reliably. However a 50% Ebony neck is possible, so even if Oak and Hickory were as unstable as Ebony, then they could at least be used as laminates.

Cool, good luck Mark. Will you be stocking Nordstrands p'ups with wood covers or be able to special order them?

The obvious reply is that like oak it's too good. Large scale manufacturers want something that is easy on their time and tools such as soft-basswood for bodies and maple for necks which would reduce the cost. For smaller 'boutique' makers then the wood/tool cost is less significant to them compared to their labour time so they might as well use something with a nice figure pattern which as far as I know hickory and oak don't have.

The filter currently doesn't act on 9 of the BBC's 20 worst swear words and to be honest the Cockney Rhyming thing is almost as intrusive as the original words, *** would be better IMHO.

+1 it's bi-monthly, but I think the US one is too.

Just testing. [Myleen Klass] bass

Mutha Bitches? I think you have the wrong site.

Yes, and old forum favourite (and very sad): [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GIBSON-RIPPER-BASS-1976-slightly-modified_W0QQitemZ7311206698QQihZ016QQcategoryZ4713QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GIBSON-RIPPER-BASS-1...VQQcmdZViewItem[/url]

As mentioned in this thread there are plenty of web resources: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=607"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=607[/url] I found warmoth particularly good. I like Mahogany, Alder and Maple, but choice of p'ups and preamp will always affect your sound far more than the body and neck wood choices IMHO.

Very nice! At the very bottom of the body are those holes in the burl, or just a very dark portion of the wood? Any particular reason for a single piece neck this time? I thought that laminates were both more difficult to make and more stable, so having mastered that I would have thought that you'd have gone that route.

Excellent, good choice! It certainly is a worthwhile trip to meet the guy who is going to be making an instrument for you I've found. Are you spending some time researching more wood choices or are you pretty much set? While you're there you might get to see this one in its final stages; the guesstimate is 2 months, but we'll see ...

Update: All the major bits together: body, ramp, fingerboard and neck!

CK: you say last 2 are expensive, but as Incase only use UPS for overseas so it'll cost you the same as the other two! ... unless you have a friend in the states and take advantage of their free shipping offer, then get it forwarded with the USPS.

Strange, I'm in the North and have an ACG built in Scotland, 7string lives in Scotland and has a Sei built in the South East, and you're in the South East and have a Shuker built in Sheffield. It's either perfect or crazy, I'm not sure which. I've got so many emails from Alan because I tend to ask quetions when I see he has logged on to BW/T/C so I get an instant response. It may be worth noteing that from a previous converation with Jon he said his Mrs was a nurse or at least worked a shift system so he tended to work odd days to fit with her. Also because he does in finishing in house he may have to use a batch of laquer before it goes off so answering the phones can be tricky.

Sorry to hear that Mike, I've found Jon a pleasure to deal with, but then I go and see him in person. Actually he was supposed to email me something after we met a week ago which I'd almost forgotten about. I think luthiers vary, I've so far had 148 emails from Alan at ACG about my 2 basses from him, and the second is only half done!

Erm without stating the obvious: Why the heck are you looking in the US for a double bass? Importing in that direction is like trying to sell cheap basses to China, it flows the other way! These things are very labour intensive to make and heavy, so anything made there and imported will be very expensive. Eastern Europe is the place to get a bass made that will be high quality but low cost, and you might not even have to pay VAT if it's in one of the newly joined countries. From what I understand many of the Czech luthiers have been making orchestral intruments in their families for centuries! Anyway for UK dealer, when I looked around at double basses a year ago,this place was really helpful and they clearly knew what they were talking about: [url="http://www.contrabass.co.uk"]http://www.contrabass.co.uk[/url] I'd try them first. Other than that I would particulary like one of these for £1500 on ebay: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/An-Amazing-Deluxe-Flamed-Double-Bass-3-4-size_W0QQitemZ130121146879QQihZ003QQcategoryZ16222QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/An-Amazing-Deluxe-Fl...oQQcmdZViewItem[/url]

Flea Sting Paul McCartney Alanis Morissette That guy from Muse

That is really nice Peter, I'd quite like to hear some clips of that when it done to see how long it sustains with a >50% ebony neck!

Hi Robbie, looking great! I really like your headstock design. Quick question on the rotary switch: is there one for each pick up and the neck/bridge refers to the coils in each or are they entirely single coils? I assumed from the look that they were humbuckers. Also what does the linear table jig do? Is it for getting the truss rod channel straight?

I haven't bought that particular brand of instrument, but a few months ago I bought a £60 Lindo electric bass and a £40 guitar for prototyping materials for a uni project. I started with the attitude 'How bad can it be?' and I found it was really quite bad. The finish particularly on the necks was awful or non existant, p'ups over routed, noisy electronics and various other 'zero quality' control issues that I could forgive for the price, but the worst things were that the bass truss rod snapped within 2 weeks and one of the guitar tunes broke the first time I changed strings. So I would never spend that little on an instrument again - the budget range of the big manufacturers is as low as I'll go as they still trade on their reputation unlike these short lived companies on ebin.

That actually is quite nice. Given my previous dislike of the Bongo shape because it was the same shape and size as other popular oval household objects, if the 6 is wide enough to actually be circular then it will be more pleasing to the eye. The body certainly looks really small beacuse the knobs, bridge and string spacings all look huge!

Hi Gary, I really liked last years, but this year have you sorted the issue of having the sponsor stands and artists in the same room? It was a huge pain only being able to try the custom basses 15 min per hour! CrazyKiwi: I notice that Bassworld was a sponsor last year, are we going to be Basschat this year?

The angle that the string breaks at over the bridge or nut only affects the amount of friction at that point. The differences you are feeling could be due to the longer string length through the body, because the entire string length will stretch as you fret a note, but the break-angle at the bridge will be increased so the friction shuld be greater and it should stretch less. Even then, the additional length is only about 5% different (1.5" of 34"), so I'd be slightly sceptical but it's possible you could feel that. To be honest, I'd say a bigger difference could be the edge of the rosewood board (you should rarely touch the fretting face, and it certainly shouldn't affect the speed of play), but as you move your hand along it will be slightly rougher than the gloss finished maple, so that could be the difference you are feeling.

All the mechanical bits were about the same as an Ibanez BTB405 I used to own, they all functioned well, but nothing 'extra special'. The finish was ok, very matt. The frets were all fine and with a new set of strings on it felt nice to play. I admit it wasn't as good as my Warwick or ACG, but I don't think that's its fault. The truly worst POS I've played was a Lindo bass I bought for £60 NEW from ebay - rusty screws and the truss rod snapped within a month, but as I only needed it for a demo model I didn't care.